This page gives a brief overview of the results of our implementation of a closed, programming laboratory supplement to a CS1 course (UCSD CSE8A). This class is the entryway to the CSE major at UCSD for students with no prior programming experience.

Goals:
The design of a closed lab component for our introductory programming class is part of a larger approach to improving the first-year experience for CSE majors. In particular, the lab focuses on providing an experimental approach to beginning programming issues -- which provides an important suppplement to our existing structure of lecture, homework, discussion section, and open labs.

We target this lab particularly at those with no or little prior programming experience, a large percentage of our incoming and transfer students. The lab meets in small sections (~30) with an experienced instructor, for one hour. Labs are developed specifically to provide a "first experience" with concepts covered in class, before a homework which tests said concepts in a more rigorous context. The Pair Programming paradigm is used to promote verbal expression of core concepts and misconceptions, to break down isolation, and to introduce stduents to the team-based nature of most software development.

Progress to Date:
Labs have been taught in 2 quarters: Fall 2004 (a group of primarily first year CS and CE majors) and Winter 2005 (reaching a much more diverse audience). In Fall 4 surveys were administered: the first, 3rd, 6th and 10th week of class (on the quarter system). In winter, a modified final survey was given.

Student Ranking of Most Satisfying Aspects of Class:
In both final surveys, students were asked what aspecct of the class gave them the most satisfaction. They were asked to rank the 5 following aspects from 1 to 5, with 1 being the most satisfying: Lab, Lecture, Discussion Section, Doing Homework, Reading Text. Figures 1 and 2 show the results from this question, showing how many students ranked each class aspect a 1 or a 2 -- indicating they found it to be one of the most satisfying aspects of the class. Though trends differ across the two classes, the lab component is always one of the top two satisfying components. In fall, students found homework to be more satisfying; in winter students found discussion section to be more satisfying. The final column shows the percent of students who ranked lab as one of the most satisfying aspects of the class and simultaneously ranked lecture as one of the least satifying (4 or 5) aspects of the class.

Differences and Similarities across the quarters:

Similarities

• The same TA ran discussion sections both quarters.
• The same instructor taught both quarters.

• Two different instructors ran labs in Fall quarter. Neither was the primary lecture instructor. Two different instructors (from fall) ran winter labs. One of the winter lab instructors was the primary lecture instructor.
• Fall quarter was comprised almost exclusively of first year CS and CE majors. Only 10% of the winter class was majoring in CS or CE.
• The class size in winter was less than half of the class size in fall.
• The percent of students who ranked lab as very satisfying and lecture not very satifying decreased by almost half in winter quarter. This may be reflective of the major-orientation of the students in the class, but may also be reflective of the fact that fall students are generally in their first quarter of the college experience. Perhaps lab is especially satisfying compared to lecture then because they are still learning "how to learn" in a university-style lecture.

• Students who rank lab as one of the most satisfying aspects of the class are equally distributed among those who predict they will recieve a grade of A or B and those who predict they will receive a C,D, or F.
  • 48% of those who predict they will recieve an A or B rank labs as one of the most satisfying aspects of the class
  • 55% of those who predict they will recieve a C, D, or F rank labs as one of the most satisfying aspects of the class
• The same percent (50%) of those who claimed to have prior programming experience found labs to be one of the most satisfying aspects of the class as those in the overall class